Proverbs 1 · a question people ask
"I also will laugh at your disaster" (1:26). Does Wisdom laugh at people in trouble?
The words are Wisdom's (1:20), and the verse says it plainly: "I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you" (1:26) (tap laugh). The verses around it say when and why. When: "when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind" (1:27). Why: "Because I have called, and you have refused" (1:24), and "you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof" (1:25). And before any of it came her offer: "Turn at my reproof" (1:23). A psalm has the same two Hebrew verbs, laugh and mock, of "He who sits in the heavens" (Psalm 2:4), and those he laughs at are the kings and rulers who set themselves "against the LORD" (Psalm 2:2): "He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision" (Psalm 2:4). Proverbs also says, "Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished" (Proverbs 17:5); in Hebrew its mocks is the verb of 1:26's mock, and its calamity is the word of 1:26's disaster. And, "Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls" (Proverbs 24:17). The book holds all of these verses, and these notes don't say how they fit together. The chapter says 1:26 of those who refused Wisdom's call, and names no one; these notes don't apply it to anyone's troubles today.
The verses
“Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares.”
“Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you. Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention; but you have ignored all my counsel, and wanted none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your disaster. I will mock when calamity overtakes you, when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when your disaster comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come on you.”
“The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his Anointed, saying,”
“He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision.”